One of the biggest parties in Berlin every year is the Gay Pride Parade, also known as Christopher Street Day. Christopher Street Day (CSD) Parade is an enormous outdoor Gay / Lesbian Pride Party which has taken place every summer in Berlin since 1979. The festival is named after the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City which was directly caused by a police raid on a gay bar on Christopher Street.

Amongst the largest Gay Rights parties in the world. Straight or Gay, when you’re there you’ll find costumes of all varieties and colors and styles, Huge Tractor Trailer type floats with sound systems, and plenty of live music, and DJ sets, and most importantly — plenty of Beer and happy people.

This year’s theme was Normal is “other” (Normal ist Anders). Sort of saying that no one has a normal love – and that all love is “different”.

I have to say that by far, it’s one of the most enjoyable parties in the city (they march several kilometers – thus the photos of the INSANE SHOES they rocked the entire parade walking in) – but make no mistake, there are plenty of political agendas put forth here too.

Among this year’s ajendas were the rights for Gays to adopt children (they can already get married in the eyes of the law – if not in a church), putting forth better equality laws to protect people the world over – regardless of race, creed, religion, or sexual orientation.

This year, my friend, Jean was in town, and I convinced him that we had to go to the parade, expecting that he’d want to leave after a few hours. Once he got there, he too had a great time – agreeing to stay from the beginning to the end – nearly 3 hours worth of parade. One of the things that he noticed, which I noticed at my first CSD was that there aren’t any protesters, just party people. Likewise, there were entire families that had come out to the party – just to teach their kids and encourage them to be more open minded.

Even though I’m straight, Many of my closest friends are Gay, and I love them for being who they are. I feel like by attending, I show my support for them and their rights just as much as my own.

After all, I believe that love can come in many shapes and sizes, and where it appears, only the heart can ever know.

For more pictures and the complete slideshow, you can see below or click the link here.